If there’re any absolute atheists (guys who say God can’t exsist in any way,) in here I’d like them to tell me their rationale because I can get my head around theism and agnosticism just fine, but I can’t figure out how there could absolutely, positively be no God. I mean, if you bring up the problem of evil, then ok, maybe he’s an indifferent or evil God. Anyway, if you want to help me out here, please go ahead.
The atheistic dillemma is an interesting one, as they say they “know” there is no god, but they can’t know something un-knowable, and thusly rely on faith in no god.
I don’t think atheists could be put into the faith barrel, they know because there is nothing to suggest the existance of a god.
I remain open to the issue as i do with all issues, but i have yet to hear a question that requires there to be a god to anwser it, thus the whole idea of there being a god seems silly.
The only rational behind there being a god is we need to explain how we got here (why life exists and the universe), my problem is we have yet to explain why we shouldn’t be here, i see no reason the universe shouldn’t exists as i know it does, the whole premiss of a god existing is based on a false idea that the universe at one time did not exists, and a blind faith in nothingness.
I have more confidence in atheists because they have no fantacy about the universe, they don’t make claims about what they do not know, they simply know that with everything that is known there can not be a god.
You have to prove that the universe shouldn’t be here before you can make wild claims that it required something to bring it into existance.
So again, claiming that atheists require faith is misleading to read, it says you have reasons to believe the universe required something to come into existance.
I forgot one main point, people who do believe in god are hypocritical, they say god created everything but fail to explain how something as complex as god could be formed. pure logic actually destroys god, which shows its imperfection and thus causes it to be nothing more then a human myth.
i am still open thought, closing my mind is something i avoid, if you have proof a god has reason to be here i would like to know it.
I’m not sure an absolute atheist really exist. I acknowledge there is a certian possiblity of things other people might call God.
However,
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It’s pretty silly to concern one self with every off possibility. Yes, it’s possible orange soda destroys the soul, but there is no evidence. Yes, it’s possible that everyone I think I know and love are just in a conspiricy of some sort and don’t actually care about be, but there is insufficent evidence for such. Of course on that last one, I could probalby drum up more evidence for that then there is for God.
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If there is a God, he seems pretty flacid. We can use the problem of evil along with the unity of the perfections to show that he is not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnibenevolent. We can use Euthrophro to show he is not nessisary for ethics. And perhaps more convinceingly, by the mere fact that someone can chose to be a theist or an atheist with little direct effect on their actual lives, it shows he doesn’t do much.
So in the end, the only thing that keeps God in my cognitive sphear what-so-ever is the insistance of others that he exist, and that somehow it’s important weather he exist or not. It really seems like just a bunch of emptiness.
I should petition Ben to have a whole board where we can constantly discuss my issue with orange soda- as it would seem consistent with his policies. 
Kiluad:
Conversly, I have yet to hear a question that requires there to be any science to answer it; thus the whole idea of there being science seems silly, going by your logic.
Does that make the faith that the universe always existed correct? Of course not.
Although as humans, we know that everything we know has to start somewhere; so the universe too must have had some sort of begining such as the big bang or god or the big bang created by god
Again, everything we know as humans had some sort of begining. The universe too must have begun somewhere. I find the claim that the universe has always existed more wild then those claims who try and explain the universes creation.
You say you need proof that the universe has not always existed but then you need proof of how something as complex as god could be formed?
Interesting…
Honestly though, in my eyes, your thoughts are actually contradictions stacked upon eachother.
How can you believe something as complex as the universe has always existed - and then question how something as complex as god came into existance?
To me… God was all that existed. He created everything - absolutally everything. I dont know why, but I can make a few guesses.
Perhaps he was lonely on his own as the only thing that was? Perhaps he created the human race in his image to live on earth and created the heavens and hells to split them up according to how they lived so that he may gain some ‘good’ company in the eternal heavens. Those who chose to be evil in life go to hell with other people who are ‘evil’.
[By no means that literally means fire, brimstone and eternal pain. It could be exactly the same as heaven for all we know - except for the fact its filled with those who chose to be evil as an opposite place for those who chose to be good.]
Seriously… we can only guess so much - and I would guess that there is thrice more then we could ever guess, that we never shall. History, literature, religion, science… It all comes down to what you believe in the end.
W.C.
Hey W.C.
the science behind it would be at the quantum level, and first we would need to view nothingness at work, considering the laws of physics and quantum physics prevent nothing from being in existances its pretty self explanatory. (im trying to avoid a lengthy responce)
There’s no faith involved in that at all, with the creation of the universe the creation of time and all that other fun stuff was created, it’s our universes laws of physics that dictate our measurment called time.
ok, i think you’re turning me atheist… If god were here before the universe, to be able to create the universe, god would have to be in the universe… which simply can not happen. creating something that is already there is impossible… by every standard of everything. Its like me buying a computer, placing it on a desk then telling someone im going to make a computer apire there, then obviously since its there say something to the effect of. “see, im like god”… that has to be the most ridiculous thing ever.
Ask me why… 
I don’t denie a start to the universe at all, that in no way suggest that there was something here before the universe. i know its hard to imagine a lot of this stuff, but when things come into existance they have a “life” span, with that start the universe can have an age, but it still doesn’t imply there was anything here or any duration of time before the start of it. the start was the start, there was no before the start. that concept is hard to grasp but so is infinity and the none shape our universe has.
indeed, because it makes perfect sense that a universe would be born, we are missing ALL indications that we can have “nothing”. we need to stop assuming stuff exists and go on what we know, and we know we can’t find nothingness, it doesn;t exists, our whole theory of there being a before the universe is based on accepting that at one time there wasn;t anything here, but we made “nothing” up, something like how we made god up to place everything in the “nothing”…
But you can even tell me how god was created, you can;t even guess at that. everything i say has no loose ends, it all stacks up but never contradicts itself, its a large puzzle that explains how its possible, why it’s possible etc…
I shouldn’t really say im an atheist, because im open to someone explaining to me why god makes more sense…
we could make anything up we wanted i suppose, that doesn;t make it right.
As i see it, i agree with the topic starter, it is impossible to logically confirm there is no god. Just as it is impossible to confirm that there does not exist invisible flying monkeys with undetectable machiens strapped to their backs.
Just to point out, I am agnostic I would say, but I have argued both sides way too long to pick one right now. But, I find it much more interesting to try and debate for the existence of God. Do I actually think I’m convincing anyone, no. But, maybe it helps them to think about it a different way or strengthen their own position. Either is fine with me.
Edit:Just for errors.
First of all my main point is, god is to far fetched to grab ahold of as truth, there are countless logical paths to take, why take the one that requires no knowledge or thinking? why grab the one that causes war? why grab the one explination that has put the world today in the horrible state it’s in? i think that bothers me more then anything.
He did, because we have nothing to suggest there is any other universes.
another point i was making is there is no rational explination for a god, it requires us to invent realities for it to exist, its not hard to make up fake realities, if i were to argue against god that way it would more like, well ancient man built the universe using technics long forgotten, there for god counldn;t have and thus there is no god, infact you just can;t know if im right or wrong so that’s how it is. which would make me an asshole if these anchient men were the reason for so much war and hate through out the world.
This one i like because its easy to anwser, we know they fly backwards, thats how we explain it.
I could ultimatly prove every single god as fake but people need to stop following other people blindly, it does so much wrong to their fellow man.
the main arguement against god is you have no connection to any god, all religious texts have been doctored 1000 times over, the religions on earth today arn;t even that old, they are for the most part rip offs of earlier religions that had totally different beliefs. Another good arguement is that religions seems to have a uncanning political agenda, its funny how they tend to bend with the times no?
Im still waiting on someone to come up with any kind of proof on the existance of a god, i have never heard any proof at all, the only thing i have heard is people use their faith to get away with murder in the name of something else, its almost like having a split personality that will take all the blame…
Sorry if i came off less open minded, im a bit tired.
Hi Kiluad
Are you open to the possibility of consciousness higher than that of man? If so you are open to the possibility of God that is the highest consciousness.
It is one thing asking for proof and another to be open to it. There is also the distinction between personal and societal proof and also what constitutes personal proof that there is consciousness higher than oneself.
Consider how Meister Eckhart describes the mind’s search for God:
Can you consider the possibility that it is useless to either try to prove or disprove God? God is beyond our comprehension. The real value is in remaining open to experience. If this is true, I don’t see the purpose of Atheism and creating psychological blocks against being open. What’s so bad about “I don’t know?”